Monday, June 04, 2007

WHAT IS LATIN HIP HOP?By, Heist

There seems to be a huge confusion about what Latin Hip Hop is! We are faced with not understanding the music, which is fast becoming the next Genre to come into its own within the Latin market. The question is do we consider an artist who is Spanish a Latin Hip Hop artist just because of their country of origin? The misconception is great when it comes to this particular topic, not only is it a touchy one but also a little difficult to really remark on. The reason its difficult is because for many years no one really looked at Latinos as major players within the Hip Hop community so we had to go on and do our own thing so as to have a part in the Music itself. When it comes down to the elements of Hip Hop we Hispanics have played a huge part in many of them, and sometimes actually making it our own and Latinos being recognized as pioneers a few.

A great example is the Rock Steady Crew, a troop of Break Dancers that emerged within the Hip Hop community in 1977 and started by Joseph Torres, which was of Puerto Rican descent. The fact that we had a big part of the Graffiti movement and popularity during the 70's also proves we were involved way back when Hip Hop was still at its infancy. During the early 80's we had producers that were deeply rooted within the rising genre and of course we had what some would consider our forefathers of Latin Hip Hop starting out their fledgling careers. Hip Hop is not only music, but a culture within itself, and one that has no particular color or race involved within it. If we only look at sales and those who buy the music we will come to see that we have come a long way from where it all started and it has grown to be accepted by everyone through out the world.

As the music has gained acceptance so should those involved in the industry from both the English and Spanish side alike. We Latinos have been making Hip Hop music since day one, be it producing, dancing, rapping, singing or Dj'ing we have always had a part in Hip Hop. Now the whole thing is what part and how can we determine where we belong? All in all we just straight up belong within the culture, no ifs and or buts about it! Now it's only about recognizing what we have to offer and properly assessing how to manage and market it. As we move into a New era where we will have Latin artist’s making Hip Hop music in Spanish and having the world as their stage we truly need to learn from our past mistakes and correct them so we can rightfully gain the spot we have so long fought to have. We have Hip Hop artists in our community and we have Latin Hip Hop artists as well.

To differentiate we only need hear what they are saying, in all reality it's that simple! Hip Hop is Hip Hop no matter what Language it's in, so you can't really say the artists are different. The only thing different is the language they rap in. Now where it becomes a little tricky is when you have a Spanish artist and he/she raps in Spanish or English or even more confusing when you have a non-Hispanic rapping or singing in Spanish, how would you classify them? We all have our own opinions on this and none of us are wrong but when you sit down and analyze it you can only have one real answer. If you rap in English no matter your origin it's just Hip Hop but when you rap in Spanish you now have Latin Hip Hop even if you're a black artist doing it. It's that simple!

What we need to grasp is that we aren't inventing something new, or reinventing the wheel here! We are just making music we Love for our own people and others who will appreciate it. We are singing or rapping in our own Language and adding our own rhythms to the Beats that we are all accustomed to and have been listening to for over two decades. So why do we not know how to market this? Because the record labels don't pay close enough attention to the origins to understand that the same methods will work if put into use in our own markets. Just change them to work for us and we will be fine. Consumers know what they like and will buy it if it's out there, but if you don't provide the product it will not be purchased. So make it accessible and you will have success. Radio, Record Labels, Marketing companies need to give it a chance and it will work, just don't sit there and wait for the next Daddy Yankee because it will NOT happen. If we take this by the horns and make it work not only will we have a solid genre we will not have a FAD! What we have done so many times is gotten in late and allowed the American Market to come in and take it away from us and turn it into a Fad that fades away just as fast as it came in. So let's do this right this time and lets take control of it, so we too can have a genre that generates Billions of dollars a yr, we are the largest minority in the , why can't we have the biggest selling albums too?